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The Greek PM expressed ‘displeasure’ that Sunak axed their meeting, saying he avoided talks on the disputed marbles.

Diplomatic sparks are flying after Britain’s prime minister abruptly cancelled a meeting with his Greek counterpart in which they were due to discuss long-contested artefacts.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was scheduled on Monday to meet visiting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who planned to raise the status of the Elgin Marbles, a set of 2,500-year-old Greek sculptures that Athens wants Britain to return.

Greece asserts that the marbles, taken from the Parthenon temple by British diplomat Lord Elgin in the early 19th century, were stolen – an assertion denied by Britain.

The issue has been a source of contention between the countries for decades.

Mitsotakis, in a statement, expressed “displeasure” that the British prime minister had cancelled their meeting at the last minute, accusing him of sidestepping the issue.

“Greece’s position on the issue of the Parthenon friezes is well known. I had hoped to have the opportunity to discuss them with my British counterpart,” Mitsotakis lamented.

“Those who believe in the rightness and validity of their positions are never afraid to confront the arguments,” he added.

Mitsokis reportedly declined a UK offer to meet Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden instead.

A Downing Street spokesperson, responding to Mitsotakis’s statement, said “the UK-Greece relationship is hugely important”, citing joint work within NATO and “tackling shared challenges like illegal migration” and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

“The deputy prime minister was available to meet with the Greek PM to discuss these important issues,” the spokesperson added, without referencing the marbles issue.

Decades-old dispute

The sculptures were taken from the Parthenon temple at the Acropolis in Greece in the early 19th century by British diplomat Thomas Bruce, the earl of Elgin.

Britain maintains it acquired the scriptures legally.

According to the Greek news agency ANA, citing sources within the Greek government, the British prime minister was apparently upset by comments made by his Greek counterpart to the BBC on Sunday.

In his comments, Mitsotakis likened the collection being held at the British Museum to the Mona Lisa painting being cut in half.

A source from Britain’s ruling Conservatives told the broadcaster on Monday that “it became impossible for this meeting to go ahead following commentary regarding the Elgin Marbles prior to it”.

Britain’s government has always ruled out giving up ownership of the marbles, which include about half of the 160-metre (525-ft) frieze that adorned the Parthenon.

However, Athens has recently been pushing for a deal that would return the sculptures under some kind of loan arrangement.

The Financial Times last week reported that British opposition leader Keir Starmer would not block a “mutually acceptable” loan deal for the sculptures. A meeting between Mitsotakis and Starmer went ahead on Monday as planned.

But Sunak’s spokesperson said on Monday the UK government had “no plans to change our approach, and certainly we think that the [British] museum is the right place” for the marbles.

Hostages released by Hamas have been describing their time in captivity, with one saying conditions were “suffocating”, with shortages of food.

In some of the first accounts to emerge amid the release of more than 50 hostages over the past few days, people have spoken about what life was like after their kidnap on 7 October.

Ruthy Munder, 78, said she spent the entirety of her time with her daughter, Keren, and grandson, Ohad Munder-Zichri, who celebrated his ninth birthday in captivity.

Follow live: ‘Clashes’ outside prison as detainees released

Speaking to Israel’s Channel 13, she said they initially were fed “chicken with rice, all sorts of canned food and cheese” and slept on plastic chairs.

They were given tea in the morning and evening, and the children were given sweets. But the menu changed when “the economic situation was not good, and people were hungry.”

Ms Munder’s husband, Avraham, also 78, was taken hostage too and remains in Gaza. Her son was killed in the Hamas attack.

Boys who were there would stay up late chatting, she said, while some of the girls would cry, she said. Some boys slept on the floor.

Ms Munder said she would wake up late to help pass the time. The room where she was held was “suffocating,” and the captives were prevented from opening the blinds, but she managed to crack open a window.

“It was very difficult.”

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‘She was in complete darkness’

Family members of other freed hostages spoke of their loved ones having to get used to their surroundings again after spending so much time in darkness in Hamas tunnels, where it was suspected some of the hostages were being kept.

Eyal Nouri, the nephew of Adina Moshe, 72, who was freed on Friday after being kidnapped from her home in kibbutz Nir Oz, said his aunt “had to adjust to the sunlight”.

“She was in complete darkness,” Mr Nouri said. “She was walking with her eyes down because she was in a tunnel. She was not used to the daylight. And during her captivity, she was disconnected … from all the outside world.”

Two Israeli TV stations, Channels 12 and 13, reported that Hamas’ top leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, visited hostages in a tunnel and assured them they would not be harmed.

“You are safest here. Nothing will happen to you,” he was quoted as saying in the identical reports, which did not reveal the source of the account.

The reports from Israeli hostages come as freed Palestinian prisoners have complained of mistreatment.

The launch of the spy satellite last week was slammed by Western powers as well as Pyongyang’s neighbours.

North Korea’s ambassador made a rare appearance at the United Nations Security Council to defend his country’s launch of a spy satellite, as Pyongyang’s state media said leader Kim Jong Un received satellite images of the White House and Pentagon.

Western powers, Japan and South Korea have said North Korea violated Security Council resolutions by launching the satellite last week.

At the Security Council on Monday, Kim Song, North Korea’s ambassador to the UN, complained that other countries faced no restrictions on satellites.

“No other nation in the world is in the security environment as critical as the DPRK,” said Kim, using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“One belligerent party, the United States, is threatening us with a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“It is a legitimate right for the DPRK as another belligerent party to develop, test, manufacture and possess weapons systems equivalent to those that the United States possesses or is developing.”

The country has said that its new eye in the sky has already provided images of major US and South Korean military sites, as well as photos of the Italian capital Rome.

On Monday, Kim received “in detail” images of the White House and the Pentagon, which he later studied, according to North Korea’s state-run KCNA news agency.

The North Korean leader also counted the number of aircraft carriers at a military base and a shipyard in the state of Virginia, the agency said.

US response

The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, rejected North Korea’s assertion it was acting in self-defence and said that joint US-South Korean exercises were “routine” and “defensive in nature”.

“We intentionally reduce risk and pursue transparency by announcing the exercises in advance including the dates and the activities, unlike the DPRK,” she said, adding that the drills did not violate Security Council resolutions.

South Korea’s spy agency said that Russia, eager for assistance in Ukraine, helped North Korea on the satellite following a summit between Kim and President Vladimir Putin.

The US said last month that North Korea had delivered more than 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Russia.

Russia and China, North Korea’s main ally, have put forward a resolution, opposed by the US, to ease sanctions on Pyongyang as part of an effort to encourage dialogue.

Chinese envoy Geng Shuang accused the US of “further aggravating tension and confrontation” through its military alliance with South Korea.

“If the DPRK constantly feels threatened, and its legitimate security concerns remain unresolved, the peninsula will not be able to get out of the security dilemma and only be caught in a vicious cycle of tit-for-tat aggressive moves,” he said.

Rescuers are just six or seven metres from 41 men trapped in a collapsed tunnel in India, officials have said.

The low-wage workers from India’s poorest states have been stuck in the three mile (4.5km) tunnel in Uttarakhand for more than two weeks.

Last week, a drilling machine broke down, delaying the rescue operation.

But on Monday, so-called rat miners were brought in to drill through the rocks and gravel by hand.

They made good progress overnight, officials said.

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Australia is also planning legislation to ban the manufacture, advertising or supply of disposable vapes.

Australia will bar imports of single-use e-cigarettes starting next year, cracking down on the nicotine products that are popular with youth.

The ban will come into effect on January 1, Australia’s government announced on Tuesday, adding that it will also introduce legislation in 2024 to ban the manufacture, advertising or supply of disposable vapes.

Australian health officials welcomed the curb on vapes, which they said had been pitched as a tool to help long-term smokers quit but evolved into a dangerous “recreational product”.

“It was not sold as a recreational product, especially not one targeted to our kids, but that is what it has become,” Health Minister Mark Butler said.

“The great majority of vapes contain nicotine, and children are becoming addicted.”

The Australian Medical Association hailed the government’s “decisive action to stop vaping in its tracks”.

About one in seven children aged 14-17 uses vapes, Australia’s government said in a statement.

The government also said there was “consistent evidence” that young Australians who vape are about three times more likely to take up tobacco smoking.

‘Gateway’ to tobacco smoking

Kim Caudwell, a senior lecturer in psychology at Australia’s Charles Darwin University, warned vaping can serve as a “dangerous gateway” to tobacco smoking for some youth.

“You can understand how at the population level, increased vaping and a resurgence of tobacco use will impact population health in the future,” Caudwell said.

Despite the new restrictions, Australia’s government said it would introduce a scheme to enable doctors and nurses to prescribe vapes “where clinically appropriate” from January 1.

Australia has a long record of fighting smoking. In 2012, it became the first country to introduce “plain packaging” laws for cigarettes – a policy since copied by France, Britain and others.

High taxes have pushed up the price of a packet to about 50 Australian dollars (US$33).

Neighbouring New Zealand until recently stood alongside Australia at the forefront of the battle.

But its new conservative coalition government, which took power this week, has now promised to scrap a so-called “generational smoking ban” that would have stopped sales of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.